Thursday, January 22, 2015

No Throne But a Speech

Photo: Daniel Schwendener / Liechtensteiner Vaterland / Vaterland.li

Liechtenstein might not have a literal throne - you know, one you can actually sit on - but the country's head of state (or his regent) still gives a speech from the throne once a year. (The English King's or Queen's speech translates into the German Thronrede (throne speech.)) For the eleventh time, Hereditary Prince Alois gave said speech today in front of the Principality's parliament while not sitting on a throne but standing instead. And when he did not stand, he sat on a normal parliament chair.

The so-called "throne speech" is held every year during the opening of parliament at the beginninig of the year. In this year's speech, the Hereditary Prince covered a number of topics ranging from the future of the health and welfare system, the challenges of the demographic change, the future of Liechtenstein's economy as well as the decision of the Swiss National Bank to abandon its currency ceiling of 1.2 Swiss francs per euro.

For the full speech, have a look at Vaterland, who offer a transcripted version. Likewise, a number of visuals of the speech can be found at Vaterland, a video of it at 1 FL TV.